Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth will play in the seventh edition of The Match
The Match is back, and this year’s version may be the most star-studded of them all. What started back in 2018 on Thanksgiving with Tiger Woods playing Phil Mickelson in a head-to-head round has been around for four years with various versions. This match – with Woods and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy against Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas – features 24 major championships and four of the best golfers of the past 30 years are on the course. together.
This Saturday edition of The Match will be played on Saturday, December 10 at 6 p.m. ET at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, and will serve as a platform to benefit help with Hurricane Ian relief efforts. Unless Woods plays in the Hero World Challenge, which he hosts December 1-4, this will be his first public golf appearance since this summer’s Open Championship at St. Andrews. This will be his third appearance in The Match as a whole.
Woods has been largely absent from the world of golf since missing a game at the Old Course in July, although he does have some playing opportunities coming up. Between this, his Heroes World Challenge in the Bahamas and the PNC Championship, which he and his son have played in the past two years, we could see a lot of Tigers before the end of the year.
Although McIlroy and Thomas appeared in an exhibit with Woods at Big Cedar Lodge after the 2020 US Open, neither they nor Spieth appeared in any edition of The Match. Here’s a look at the first six iterations of The Match.
The result of the match
|
2018 |
Tiger Woods vs Phil Mickelson |
Mickelson |
Las Vegas |
|
Year 2020 |
Tiger Woods & Peyton Manning vs Phil Mickelson & Tom Brady |
Forest & Drivers |
Florida |
|
Year 2020 |
Phil Mickelson & Charles Barkley vs Steph Curry & Peyton Manning |
Mickelson & Barkley |
Arizona |
|
Year 2021 |
Bryson DeChambeau & Aaron Rodgers vs Phil Mickelson & Tom Brady |
DeChambeau & Rodgers |
Montana |
|
Year 2021 |
Bryson DeChambeau vs Brooks Koepka |
Koepka |
Las Vegas |
|
2022 |
Tom Brady & Aaron Rodgers vs Josh Allen & Patrick Mahomes |
Brady & Rodgers |
Las Vegas |
| 2022 | Tiger Woods & Rory McIlroy vs Jordan Spieth & Justin Thomas | Florida |
This edition of The Match will be limited to 12 holes, which, as the DeChambeau-Koepka match taught us, is the perfect length for a televised golf event like this one. As with all editions of this exhibition event, it will be broadcast by Turner Sports on TNT.
Woods and McIlroy recently co-founded TMRW Sports, a company that is “harnessing technology to build progressive approaches in sports, media and entertainment” and announced their impressive list of investors on Wednesday. This edition of The Match is not affiliated with TMRW Sports despite the involvement of business partners.
